SAMICK

product types:

electric guitars

mandolins

acoustic guitars

bass guitars

koto

violins

zither

banjos

Information:

The Samick Musical Instrument company is an important guitar manufacturer, at the start of the 21st century. When large scale production of guitars became uneconomical in the USA and Europe, many western brands outsourced their manufacturing to highly automated and cost effective Korean manufacturers like Samick. The instruments are then distributed under a variety of brandnames (like Epiphone or Washburn for example).

The very first Samick guitars were made around 1965, by what was then the Samick Piano Company. Many of these instruments were made for other companies, and were branded as such. The Samick Piano Company became the Samick Musical Instrument Company in 1973. The name change reflected the diverse range of instruments made by Samick. Towards the end of the 1970s the international importance of Samick was reflected by their establishment of offices in the USA and Germany, and the opening of a large guitar manufacturing facility in Korea.

In 1992, an Indonesian factory was opened, this currently accounts for most of the guitar production. Also in 1992 Samick aquired the Valley Arts brand name as an outlet for exclusive and custom instruments. The Valley Arts brand was sold on to Gibson in 2002. Samick also distributes guitars under its own brand, although since 1999 the brand name "Samick - Greg Bennett Guitars" has also been used. According to their website Greg Bennett is an industry marketing and design veteran (with a marketable western sounding name and Nashville pedigree!).